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Speaking in tongues

DESPITE the idea that English is spoken in America, Chinese in China, and Russian in Russia, most of the world is far more diverse than the presence of big national languages suggests. In fact, monolingual countries are hard to find. The chart below measures language diversity in two very different ways: the number of languages spoken in the country and Greenberg's diversity index, which scores countries on the probability that two citizens will share a mother tongue. America, Russia, Brazil, China and Mexico have over 100 languages each, but score relatively low on the diversity index, because English, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese and Spanish have grown to the point where they threaten to destroy the many tiny native languages. By contrast, linguistic rivalry and relative poverty have kept a single language from dominating countries like India and Nigeria, which score high on the diversity index. Geography is an additional factor. The many islands of Indonesia and the Philippines shelter small languages despite those countries' middle-income status. Both poverty and geography combine to make Congo and Papua New Guinea the most linguistically diverse countries in the world.

i can say you many things regarding this but won't. i don't know whether your mother tongue is English or other. however, you must know that how many people and societies used English as their language one or two centuries back; and what are the number now both in terms of people and societies. of course, it increased multiple times without so much strife but facing a few obstacle. making English as an international language doesn't necessarily mean that you will have to leave ideas and letters of other languages. the burning example is today's English language itself. for example it not only took (and is taking) words and ideas from the great Latin and Greek languages but also from other languages and enriched its vocabulary. for this no war has to wage on people as you are describing. if people like you had not created barrier like this then English language would have spread more than it is today. no great(in terms of people speaking it) language of the human societies has its own exclusive origin: with the course of human societies development languages mixed with each other through people using them and enriched themselves. now it is our privilege that we have got such a language and medium of learning it that we should appreciate its pioneers. there are hundreds of thousands of example that non-native speakers learning and using English besides educational and formal purpose. you are terming me as a proponent of Fascism in language. this is the reflection of your narrow mentality, panic, and fear of loosing your status quo both in terms of cultural, political and economic. because language can be used to create division among people and thus deprive them from their rights by not teaching them international language(s), this time English because of its worldwide use. you and many other of your nature have got to learn more: sorry i've been compelled to say so.

I do not understand why language "diversity" is being put forward as a positive in this article. The idea that pervasive languages like English and Mandarin "threaten to destroy tiny native languages" is not necessarily a bad thing. Those speaking tiny native languages have less opportunity to grow their personal and community wealth, due to their inability to function within the larger economy.
Regional languages and dialects are a by-product of our history, when we were geographically separated and language evolved regionally. In the global economy, the more integrated language becomes, the better we all are for it.

Actually, America is not a continent. There are two continents which use the word "America" within them: North America and South America. While in the Spanish language, "América" is generally used to refer to both the North and South American continents, "America" in English is almost always understood to refer to the United States of America. The fact that "América" and "America" look and sound similar does not mean that you can equate their meanings across languages, any more than the French word "préservatif" (condom) means the same thing as the English term "preservative."

The impression I get is that the diversity of languages is a good thing. No, it's not. Miscommunication causes misunderstanding and that causes conflicts. Conflicts causes wars. The world's people need to be able to communicate and understand one another. Get rid of language barriers. Improve business, commerce, lifestyles. We NEED ONLY ONE universal language!!

I'm impressed and surprised by the volume of feedback on my comments. As for a universal language: English has it's flaws. They have rules but don't always follow them which makes learning English difficult. Example: "C" is not always pronounced the same - "cat", "city". "G" in "Gym" and "Get". "gh" in "ghost", "though", "rough". And what about the "s" in "island" and "aisle"? I can go on and on. We really need to fix it if it is to become an international, easy to learn language. As for French, forget about it - too many letters that are not pronounced and serve no purpose and also unnecessarily complicated verb conjugations.

There is sooooo much more to a language than just "saying cat dog hello". I suspect that you have not learned well any other language, or you would realize how deeply a language truly is intertwined with culture, history, tradition - all which become lost when a language dies. Maybe not a big loss to you, as a "major-language" speaker, but a loss to the "minor" culture, and in truth, a loss to us all as a species. Variety is good for our survival, uniformity is a sure path to mediocrity for all.

Some countries are not classified and nothing is said about them.If you considered Cameroon in that study, may be you will consider History, in addition to poverty and Geography, a one of the determinants of diversity. Although linked to the point of ethnic rivalry you make, some country's diversity is just a matter of their past.

The Economist forgot Central and South America, except for Brazil? All Central American countries have indigenous populations that speak a different language. A lot of data is available on Guatemala. Most countries in South America have groups, generally indigenous, who speak different languages: Bolivia has more than 30, Ecuador has at least 4, Peru has at least three, Chile has at least two, Colombia and Venezuela have at least two. There is also a lot of data available for several South American countries

There is an equally fallacious argument that diversity in language is a "good" thing. The silly argument you provided that bilingualism correlates with reduced incidence of Alzheimer's disease, therefore if causes a reduction in Alzheimer's disease is an example to what lengths proponents of the advantages of diversity will go. Talk about "pseudo-science", Rh. You are the poster child for pseudo-science.

Languages have been disappearing for thousands of years. The vast majority of spoken languages are long gone. Yet we all somehow survive without 20 different dialects of German, French, etc.

The few letters that are silent in English are nothing compared to other languages. I speak several and believe me English is the easiest. And you don't have to worry too much about rules and grammar - that is the beauty of English. It is an evolving language.
I think the whole world should change to the Latin alphabet and become phonetic languages.
Turkey, back in 1910, changed into the Latin alphabet and never looked back.

doesn't matter how many languages the world and the countries have. we the people of the world need one language and that is obviously English only because there is hardly any country in the world which does not practice English. so it is easier for the people of the world to learn English than any other language. true it may be a gradual process if not impossible. the report only showing data but not spelling out what to do. thus useless in practical ground. our recommendation is to take measures to teach English to the user's of other language. here i'm quoting a comment from a comment by another source: "EngEsq
I agree, we should officially make English our national language, and stop providing most services in other language.
That stated, we should also offer education for all those willing to learn English so that they have an avenue to increased economic mobility.
• 29 votes
#1.5 - Fri Feb 17, 2012 5:01 PM EST". i agree with this because i believe in the following motto: one world, one dream. though there can be a scientific combination, if scientifically deemed necessary.

"but I don't mind to call him a 'son of taiwan' because he said in an interview he loves taiwanese food, and you are what you eat , right?"

Don't worry, China have another Lin to be proud, Evelyn Lin.

Jeremy Lin is Taiwan's pride.
Evelyn Lin is China's pride.

I admire the Jeremy and would like for him to promote Taiwan.
I would like to know Evelyn in person. Well something along
those lines.

"don't worry, unlike you, I am no chinese, and I take you are no portuguese formosa independence guy, right? even your pen name is written in chinese, a highly unusual expression of patriotism of china there."

Cara, corta o papo furado. (stop the ** chat) Formosa (Beautiful)
is what Taiwan is. The Jewel of the East.

Thanks for the definition I do appreciate it...in it you can yourself find the answer...
I quote it: ..."A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. They are generally IDENTIFIED BY CONVENTION RATHER THAN ANY STRICT CRITERIA...".
On the other hand I remind you that our diatribe was around to see America as the name of a country or not...and undoubtedly the USA and America are not synomyms...the USA is one country located in America, just as Suriname, Brazil, Colombia or Canada. In USA English is the official language, in Suriname Dutch, in Brazil Portuguese, in Colombia Spanish and in Canada English and French. This is the diversity of America.